200 is damn near stock. But either way once you start making more power in a GST you are going to spin tires anytime you drive aggressive. Daily normal driving is just as normal as any but once you punch it they just spin. And driving in the rain.......Well you can forget about that. You will get wheel hop, your windshield wipers will come on you'll get torque steer. But over all it's fun.

Read

My car is almost stock I have no idea how much I make to the wheels. Daily driving is no problem but I hate driving in the rain. I have to drive like a grandmaw or else my wheels just keep spining. Racing just don't floor it in 1st.

traction is a problem... thats why i am thinking of getting an evo VIII... I am debating on putting the money into my GST for a new turbo + supporting mods, when i wont even be able to keep the wheels from spinning...

Jester

Learn how to launch and you will get more traction. I took me a while to learn. I never floor it in first gear.. I give it enough power so that the wheels spin a little and then floor it in 2nd. That takes some practice though. Soon ill be getting an LSD, Coilovers so that i can lower the front and bring up the rear so that the front tires get most of the weight. Oh and ill be getting new tires. I hope that will help my traction problem.

just like stated driving a turbo fwd isn't that hard if you use your head and learn how to drive it.

Daily driving: great, on the streets driving normal speeds its great, easy to pass people that are going slow, easier to drive than awd(I think so), good gas milleage. On the freeway a gs-t is just awsome, mad topend power, traction is not an issue at all during daily driving.

Rain: spin your tires everywhere if you give it even marginal throttle. But you don't spin out anywhere your front tires just spin. Wheel hop is only really a problem in first gear, just like dry weather. Good tires will cure this mostly I drove my last car(rs-t) in the rain all the time with decent tires and had no problems what so every unless it was a straigh down pour. First and second gear were not the gear to get on it though, I realized this and changed my driving style around it(who tries to race in the rain anyway?)

Racing: if you are not used to the car then it will be very frusterating, however it is way easier to learn how to launch a fwd good over an awd good. LSD, good tires, and prothane motor mounts will almost eliminate wheel spin. My friend has a super high power fwd(500+hp) and he pulls 2.0 60fts on drag radials. Launching a fwd is hard at first but once you get the hold of it, its really easy. This is how it goes down. Launch at about 3500-4000rpm slip the clutch and slowly let it out, and then let it out a little faster once you get moving. Never give it full throttle in first gear regardless of your suspension set up, tires, etc... how much gas you give it in first gear depends on your set up. Once you get into second lay into the gas and see what its like to have no drivetrain loss like an awd. A properly set up fwd with a good driver can take an awd anyday. The awd will have the slight jump in first gear but by the end of 2nd the awd will show its weakness. As for track preperations in a fwd, drop the tire preasure, get some nice tires, and learn how to drive and your good.

overall driving a fwd is very very fun. I sold my awd in order to go back to fwd. The freeway has never been as much fun. plus if you are down with smoke shows then you can do that too.

-zach-

Im putting down 300+ to the flywheel and traction isnt too bad. Stop racing is tough, but other then that, its fine. Running from a roll is insanely fun and if you drive normal in the rain its good. Ive daily driven mine for a year and a half now and i dont have any complaints.

98eclipseRS, great review man, very honest. this is the type of detailed replies i would like to see.

basicly my goal is to have a car thats in the 13-14 but is above all else a good daily driver.

np bro, just helping a hopefully soon to be dsmer. As for having a 13-14 sec daily driver with a fwd, that won't be a problem what so ever. with just intercooler pipes, FIPK, full exhaust at 15psi I pulled off the trap speed of a low 14-high 13. Only problem was that kumho ecsta supra 712's were good for the gsx but not the gst. 16.2@97mph is ####ing horrible and was very frusterated that day at the track, so now I am going back with some drag radials.

98eclipseRS said:

16.2@97mph

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Wow

That's some serious traction issues.

98eclipseRS pretty much told it how it is. I owned a fwd gst then my next dsm was a gsx.. big difference involving traction(said i will never own another fwd) Welp! I got another fwd, go figure. I dont think its that bad, Really..It's going to be the same in any other front wheel drive car that has alot of horsepower. Thats the way I see it, Weather it be a dsm or the mystery machine(yes,scooby doo ).. I doubt you'll regret getting one if you do happen to get one, I know I dont!

Rob.

KFT0001 said:

Wow

That's some serious traction issues.

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haha tell me about it, not thinking I kept the heavy 17's on the car for track day. And since the tires were pretty low pro even airing them down did not help with sidewall flex. No matter what I did all that happened in first gear was a smoke show slipping, feathering, nothing worked. Lesson of the story is don't be an idiot like me and go to the trck with no pro tires, and stay away from kuhmo supra ecsta 712's if you are going to be running your fwd at the strip.

I know about all the others ways to cure our traction problems but is there any such thing called a a traction bar for us. I saw some traction bars that were supposed to "unload? the front suspension" for the honda,acura crowd and was wondering if there was anything like that for us. Anyone seen these for GST's and do they actually work.

damn if you get a hold of any traction bars let me know! i have the same problem as everyone else owning a fwd. my car gets madd wheel hop especially at the track where its really sticky. i never did anything about it so last week i was at the track and finally blew my trans from all the wheel hop. i popped out the boot where the slave cylinder disengages the clutch and all the teeth and pieces of the fork and oil came pouring out. friggin sux but now i have a good excuse to have my trans rebuilt by Shep Racing. then i'm gonna sell it. so if anyone is looking for a 99GST with some nice upgrades and runnin 20psi and a standard rebuilt race trans let me know. someone in the chicago area. 12 grand firm.

right now with my mods i only spin thru second. But i am hauling @ss the whole time im spinning, its not like im just staying in one spot burning the tires

Lagos said:

id just like to know what its like to drive a turbo fwd thats putting out around 200hp or more to the ground. whats it like during daily driving, in the rain and also racing?

also, what are some of the best ways to improve traction for street driving.

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Absolutely nuts. I have probably been the most wheelhopping, spider gear shooting SOB here-until I got my motor mounts, Perelli tires, and Quaife LSD, but that's only when you slam the pedal.

If you drive like normal from the start, and then slam it at say around 4k in 2nd gear you'll be fine. But of course I don't start hitting hard boost till 4krpm anyway, so that's just me.

I dont have a GST but dont discriminate!

My car produces (last time I checked) 250hp at my current boost level of 10psi.
That said my car rarely smokes the tires unless I go WOT in first and second. I have pretty meaty directional tires that provide me excellent wet and dry traction. I smoked a hemi truck just last nite from a stop (the truck was rolling at 10mph) light that turned green on me. He floored it and a so did I (after about 3000rpm) in first gear only producing about a half tire wheel spin. I pulled him in second by a half car length with no wheelspin.
.02.

98eclipseRS said:

A properly set up fwd with a good driver can take an awd anyday.

overall driving a fwd is very very fun. I sold my awd in order to go back to fwd.

-zach-

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I too switched back to FWD from AWD but I have to say that your first quoted comment isn't accurate from everything I've ever experienced with DSMs. "Properly setup" means having ALOT of suspension and drivetrain mods. AWD just gets up and go and is MUCH easier to drive than a high HP FWD. Its a different experience but easier to pick up and master. That said, I love the raw power feeling of FWD (with my mods)

vrman: yes you are correct when I said properly set up I meant having a good suspension, poly mounts, lsd, etc... its alot of work but you can get a nice launching fwd car. the only gripe I have about fwd is that its not as easy to have a multi event performing car with fwd. What I mean by that is that I am a big track racing guy myself, I like going to the drag strip but I would much rather tear it up on a road course, coincidentally drag racing and road racing have the two oposits as far as you want suspension to go, so its a toss up as to wht you have a really really good handling car or a good launching car, where as with an awd it doesn't really matter because pretty much no matter how you have your suspensin set up traction really isn't an issue. Oh and by the way your parts wishlist is ####ing hilarious. :laugh:

Ahh yes we are in the same boat. I am trying to get this thing to perform well at the strip/course/daily driving and they all demand different duties from different components. I have rubber motor mounts for the side and rear and poly in the front. Poly for wheel hop and engine rocking, rubber for no vibration. So it isn't the best at anything but is good at everything. Still need the LSD, better shocks and bigger IC then I am hoping to running about 340whp. I wonder if it is attainable on pump with my mods, what do you think


Glad you like the mod list, whats so funny about it? :laugh:

340 with an 18g should be possible but you are going to need some damn fine tunning done, the cams would help also. The hardest part about pump for you and me is that we live in cali where in cali do you live?? I think your best bet as far as supsension would be to get JIC's. I plan on getting them in the future, and then its time to learn how to properly set them up

Yeah goddamn Cali and its diet piss octane. I live in San Diego. I think I will be able to make 330whp with 264/272 cams and a bigger IC with no more power adders aside from what I have. If not, Im not buying anymore for a 13 year old FWD car.

JICs are sick but too teeth jarring for me, got to cart the wifey around in this thing as well. Think I'll buy some Tanabe Sustec shocks or AGXs later. Damn this car, Im nervous. Its at Road Race right now and when its done I have some race scores to settle

Have to represent well for us wrong wheel drivers, which I admit I like better

Test drove the car in the rain, for the first time, and figure'd "aww.. I drop it in first at maybe 3K and see if it will spin..." ... it did. -.-

Anyways, while racing.. I think its better to have a FWD car anyways (rather then dropp'in the clutch like alla the AWD guys can do.) ... I go easy on my car when I'm running it, I got to the point where I can hear just the smallest wheel-churp while leaving first, and nothing in second... when I first got it I would get "worried" that I was going to "loose" just because the person I was next to would be faster outa the hole, so when they started to pull away I would stomp it.. and just spin... Needless to say, a honda will pull away outa the hole, once I get into second gear its all downhill from there.

Normal driving is easy. Shouldn't have any problem getting it in or out of first into second, although when my car is cold you have to be gentle on second gear (the snycro grinds if your' hard on it.. maybe change my tranny fluid to a better one? no idea whats in there.) Very nice over-take on the highway, and in mild traffic... I try to find reasons to pass people sometimes (I had the hardest time wearing in my new clutch "safely" ... had the car for maybe 2 months, and replaced it.. "AWWW MAN - I can't run it - ... sucks."

Rain driving is fun... you're tires are gonna spin. Yeah. Thats all I gota say about that really.

... Another thing people over looked? A FWD car that handles like CRAP in the snow. I love my DSM... but it sucks in the snow man. We get a good amount of snow over here in Maryland, ... so thats always fun. I try to keep my GST in for the evenin' when the snow comes out.

The cars traction is not really that great in my eyes... (STOCK) but upgraded... and with a good driving you'll have some good times rollin' out.

I recently dyno'd 320 WHP on pumpgas in my GS-T with the FP2544. From a roll, I can keep up with most of the fast V8s around here. On Falken Azenias, I can break them loose in second pretty much when ever I feel like it. Went to the track and ran a 13.0@116mph on drag radials spinning in third gear. On the way home from the track, I gernaded the front diff.

$2500 later, I have an LSD, "built" tranny, complete Prothane motor mount kit, 24.5" slicks and hopefully the traction to pull a low 12 in the 118mph range.

I would really like to know if there are traction bars made for these cars.

traction= :thumbdown